Team needed break

Gene Frenette

While a .500 record going into their bye week is below the preseason standard they set, the Jaguars might be in a better position to secure a playoff berth than many of the 11 other AFC teams residing below first place.

On the surface, it doesn't look good being three games behind the unbeaten Tennessee Titans in the loss column and tied for the eighth-best conference record (3-3). However, there are two important factors to consider: injuries and schedule.

The Jaguars have dealt with losing seven projected starters for a total of 24 games. And during that process, they had to play four AFC division leaders. The combined record of the Jaguars' opponents is a league-best 21-10.

"You can't really name too many teams that have suffered as many blows as we've suffered," Jaguars linebacker Mike Peterson said. "To go through all that and still be 3-3, we'll take it and build off it."

The good news for the Jaguars is that several key missing parts - center Brad Meester, safety Reggie Nelson, guard Chris Naeole - are expected back at full strength for next Sunday's home game against the Cleveland Browns. The Jaguars also are hopeful that wide receiver Jerry Porter, who hasn't fully recovered from hamstring surgery, can make more than a cameo appearance in the last 10 games.

A bye-week report card:

Rushing Offense

C Not having Meester for the first six games because of a torn biceps muscle was bad enough. But losing guards Vince Manuwai and Maurice Williams to season-ending injuries in the opening game against the Titans put offensive line coach Andy Heck in a serious predicament. The continuity of a unit working together all preseason was lost.

Replacement left guard Uche Nwaneri has been adequate, but he can't match Manuwai's power as a blocker. The Jaguars tried veteran Milford Brown at right guard before switching to Tutan Reyes. The upshot of all this line shuffling means the running lanes for Fred Taylor and Maurice Drew aren't there with the same frequency as last year when the Jaguars had the NFL's second-ranked running game. Furthermore, the coaching staff has de-emphasized the ground game every week except against the Indianapolis Colts and Denver Broncos.

Taylor and Drew both cracked the 100-yard barrier against the smaller, run-challenged Colts, and with Taylor sidelined by a slight concussion most of last week, Drew was able to rush for 125 yards against the Broncos. Other than that, the Jaguars' running attack has been closer to ground zero.

Though typically a slow starter, Taylor's 242 yards is easily his lowest output through six games during his 11-year NFL career.

Pass Offense

C Through the first three games, David Garrard looked nothing like the quarterback who posted a 102.2 passer rating last season. He threw more interceptions (four) than he did in all of 2007, and few of the receiver routes went beyond 15 yards.

Until last week's win at Denver, the Jaguars' passing game has been confining. Except for Matt Jones (30 catches, 338 yards), none of the receivers have blossomed with any consistency. The biggest drawback is nobody has emerged as a down-the-field threat.

The hamstring-impaired Jerry Porter has one catch. Reggie Williams has regressed from 10 touchdown catches last season to none. Mike Walker flashed with a six-catch, 107-yard game against the Pittsburgh Steelers before being hurt. Dennis Northcutt has been deactivated for three games. Troy Williamson's only highlight reel catch, a 69-yarder against Denver, was nullified by a holding penalty.

When tight end Marcedes Lewis has the team's top per-catch average at 15.1 yards, it's an indictment of the receiving corps. Garrard has completed only seven passes to wide receivers this season for more than 15 yards.

If the Jaguars improve their third-down efficiency (38.2 percent), then they will have better than a 20th-ranked passing attack when this season is over.

Run Defense

C+ Only one running back, Denver’s Michael Pittman, has rushed for over 100 yards on the Jaguars, but a true indicator of how pedestrian this team has become in stopping the run is the opposition’s 4.5 yards per attempt (24th in the NFL).

That’s simply not the fundamentally sound, gang-tackling defense that coach Jack Del Rio made a priority from the moment he arrived in 2003. The front four isn’t getting the kind of consistent push the coaching staff wants. Consequently, the linebacker corps of Daryl Smith, Clint Ingram, Justin Durant and Mike Peterson is making fewer key stops.

The only reason the Jaguars are a somewhat respectable 15th in run defense is because teams are more inclined to try to pick on an injury-depleted secondary through the air. By no means have teams run at will on the Jaguars, but they’re getting enough yardage to get in comfortable down-and-distance situations that keep drives going.

Stopping the run is about shedding blockers, winning one-on-one matchups in the trenches and creating space for the linebackers to make plays. The Jaguars haven’t done that with any consistency, and they’ve shown vulnerability on sweep plays.

Looking at the Jaguars’ remaining schedule, they better clean that up against scary running backs like the Minnesota Vikings’ Adrian Peterson and rookies Chris Johnson (Tennessee) and Steve Slaton (Houston).

Pass defense

C- Even when the Jaguars’ secondary was healthy, this was the team’s No. 1 weak link. Until last week’s win at Denver, where the cornerbacks and safeties did a better job of breaking up passes, every quarterback outside of Vince Young found ways to pick this team apart.

It’s not just shortcomings in coverage, but the inability to generate pressure on the quarterback without blitzing. When the Jaguars have sent extra rushers, which defensive coordinator Gregg Williams has been more reluctant to do in Jacksonville than at previous NFL stops, they still aren’t affecting the quarterback as much as the coaching staff would like.

The Jaguars have only eight sacks in 196 pass attempts (one every 24.5 passes), the fourth-worst sack percentage in the NFL. If you want to pinpoint why the Jaguars have three losses and are dangerously close to being 1-5, this is the big culprit. It’s also why opponents are converting 48.6 percent on third down, putting the Jaguars dead last in the NFL in that category.

All those fourth-quarter scoring drives by opponents in the first five games could have been avoided with a timely sack, like when Rob Meier pulled on Ben Roethlisberger’s jersey before the Steelers’ quarterback escaped to hit Hines Ward for an 18-yard gain.

Remember, the Jaguars exited the 2007 postseason because they couldn’t find a way to put Tom Brady on the ground. There might be no playoffs at all this season unless this team starts making life more miserable for the opposing quarterback.

Special teams

B+ It’s a little frightening to think where this team might be without the nearly perfect foot of Josh Scobee or the kickoff return/coverage units.

Scobee has missed only one field-goal try, a 37-yarder that he still insists snuck inside the right upright against Tennessee. He has always had booming kicks, but Scobee has significantly improved his accuracy the last two seasons, going from a 78.5 percent success rate (2004-06) to 92 percent (2007-08). He earned every bit of his salary with a 51-yard field goal in the final seconds at Indianapolis, keeping the Jaguars from dropping to 0-3, and nailed a 37-yarder in overtime the following week to beat Houston.

As a return man, undrafted rookie Brian Witherspoon has given the Jaguars a dynamic element by taking the kickoff load from Maurice Drew and also providing an occasional lift on punt returns. Witherspoon ranks sixth in the NFL in kick returns (28.6-yard average) and 11th in punt returns (12-yard average). His ability to get up to full speed so quickly could be a difference-maker in a game or two before this season is over.

Nearly all of the Jaguars’ rankings on offense and defense are in the bottom half of the league, but they’re No. 1 in kickoff coverage and seventh in kick returns.

Coaching

B- So if a team expected to challenge for the AFC South is 3-3, the coaches must not be doing that good of a job, right? Actually, Del Rio and his staff have fared better than most people probably think.

Despite the horrific situation with the offensive line and the rugged schedule, the Jaguars have been in a position to win every game so far. Play-calling on both sides of the ball has been spotty at times, but when games are on the line, execution matters more than scheme or what play a coordinator can dial up at the time.